Sunday, February 12, 2017

How supplementing with formula saved my mom sanity

I'm no stranger to fussy babies. My two girls were both colicky, gassy, and overall pretty unhappy babies until they eventually grew out of it around six months of age. Of course, there were tricks to soothing them, like baby wearing, swaddling, burping, and letting them sleep in a swing, but it was still a pretty unpleasant experience for the entire family when one of our babies went through the colicky newborn stage. I didn't realize it could get worse.

Baby number four took fussiness to a whole new level. From the second night at home, I knew he was going to be an extremely difficult baby boy. I couldn't even sleep in the same room as him because he was so loud- constantly grunting, squirming, crying, and waking to snack all night and all day. The grunting...oh the grunting! Josiah was and still is the gassiest baby I've ever been around, so his loud grunts would drive me insane. It would wake me up at night from the other room. He needed to be burped so frequently and forcefully or he'd wail in agony from trapped gas in his tummy. He was a snacker, only wanting to nurse for a few minutes and then wake up after an hour or two around the clock with no regard for whether it was day or night. It was maddening!

After months of constant crying and fussing, the extreme fatigue was wearing on me. My stress level was through the roof and my milk supply was dwindling. I had a bit of postpartum anxiety going on too and I'm sure my raging hormones weren't helping the situation either. After weeks of trying everything I could to increase my milk supply, I realized that I was going to need to supplement my breast milk with some formula too. Luckily for Josiah, I knew which one I was going to use: GERBER® Good Start® Soothe.

GERBER® Good Start® Soothe Infant Formula contains L. reuteri, a probiotic that is naturally found in breast milk, and is specially designed to ease excessive crying, colic, and fussiness while providing complete nutrition.

GERBER® Soothe Probiotic Colic Drops also contain L. reuteri. Research indicates that the type of bacteria in an infant's intestine may determine whether a child is colicky, and probiotics can support a balance of good bacteria in their digestive tract. While it's not intended to cure or treat any disease, it has been clinically shown to reduce crying time in colicky breastfed infants! I received a free sample of GERBER® Soothe probiotic Colic Drops from Gerber. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

Fast forward one month and we are now inching closer and closer to Josiah being six months old (which is crazy!), and he's getting out of that difficult "newborn" stage. He's a much happier baby now that he's grown out of the colic and his digestive system is a little more mature (though he is still pretty gassy- I guess he's just a stinker). I'm still supplementing my milk with GERBER® Good Start® Soothe and I couldn't be happier with my decision. I mean, look at those chubby cheeks! We're all much happier and we're finally sleeping (a little) at night now too.

Have you had a colicky baby before? What's your formula for happiness? Just know that you are not alone and that there is hope out there. Consider a probiotic like GERBER® Soothe Probiotic Colic Drops or GERBER® Good Start® Soothe Infant Formula. Gerber also has some great experts available (registered dietitians, certified lactation consultants, and certified baby sleep consultants) to answer any of your questions! You can find out more about excessive crying, colic, and fussiness here.